Sirup evaporator



Feb. 17, 1942.

s. P. HAYES SIRUP EVAPORATOR F'ile'd NOV. 23, 1940 2 vShe ets-Sheet l igwdg/52M A tome y I Feb. 17,1942. s, P, HAYES' 2,273,402

SIRUP EVAPORA'I'OR Filed Nov. 25, 1940 v 2 sheets-sheet 2 i y 2;Inventor v( /S J/b/fay/ P /aJ/es Zik ,@y, Z2@

I Attorney Patented Feb. 17, 1942 UNlTED STATES PATENT I QFFICE SIRUPEVAPORATOE Sidney P. Hayes, West Valley, N. Y. Application November 23,1940, Serial No. 366,934

(Cl. 15S-38) 1 Claim.

This invention relates to sirup evaporators and an object of theinvention is to provide an evaporating apparatus wherein steam isemployed as the heating agent.

In addition it is an object of the invention to improve generally uponsuch types of evaporators as are now known and used and which employ, inthe interest of economy of time and labor, steam as the heating agent.

The invention together With its objects and advantages will be bestunderstood from a study of the following description taken in connectionwith the accompanying drawings wherein- Figure 1 is a side elevationalview of an evap orator-forming part of the invention.

Figure 2 is an end elevational view thereof.

Figure 3 is a top plan view of the evaporator.

Figure 4 is a transverse sectional view taken substantially on the line4-4 of Figure l.

Figure 5 is a detail sectional view taken substantially on the line 5-5of Figure 3.

Figure 6 is a horizontal sectional View taken substantially on the line6-5 of Figure 5.

Referring more in detail to the drawings it will be seen that in thepreferred embodiment thereof the evaporator comprises a substantiallyrectangular water chamber or box 5 that is strengthened through themedium of transverse rods 6; and above the chamber 5 an evaporating trayindicated by the reference numeral 8.

The tray 8 embodies a bottom wall 1 that forms the top of the waterchamber 5, and a Aperipheral wall 8a.

The wall 8a is in the form of a rectangular frame the members of which,at the lower edges thereof seat in a groove 9 provided thereforexternally of the water box or chamber 5 and extending about all foursides of the water chamber adjacent the top thereof.

The water chamber 5 is watertight and adapted to contain water, thewater being admitted into the water box or chamber 5 through a fillingneck 9 that is equipped with a safety valve I0.

The water box or chest 5 is also provided with a drain cock Il as shown.

Also forming additional equipment are a water glass I2 and a steam gaugeI3 associated with the box 5 as shown.

The juice or sap to be evaporated or concentrated is admitted into theevaporating tray 8 through a valve assembly I4 provided at one end, asshown in Figure 3, and at one corner of the tray 8.

As best shown in Figures 3 and 5 the valve assembly I4 embodies a valvecasing I5 mounted on the wall 8a and opening at its top as shown toreceive the sirup or juice, and laterally opening at the bottom of thecasing I5 into the tray 8 as at I6 to permit the juice or sap to passfrom the casing into the tray 8.

Mounted in the casing I5 is a valve seat I1 against the underside ofwhich seats a float valve I8. Valve I8 is in the form of a disk having astem I8al that works through a suitable guide 20, in the form of aspider, and suitably mounted in the casing I5 as shown. Thus it will beseen that as the level of the juice or sap in the tray 8 rises valve I8will be caused to rise to engage its seat I'I.

Obviously the weight of the fluid or juice on the valve I8 incidental tothe charging of the tray 8 with such juice or sap will serve to move thevalve I8 downwardly and out of engagement with the seat l1 to permitsuch juice or sap to pass through the valve assembly and seek its levelin the tray 8.

The wall 1 forming the top of the water chamber 5 and the bottom of thetray 8 has a portion thereof corrugated to provide ribs I9 that extendinwardly from one end of the tray 8 to terminate short of the oppositeend of the tray, and intermediate ribs 20 that extend inwardly from saidopposite end Wall of the tray 8 to terminate short of the first namedend wall of said tray 6. The ribs I9 and 20 coact to form a cntinuouspath of travel for the juice entering the tray 8 through the valve I4 atone corner of the tray and draining from the tray 8 through a dischargecock 23 provided for the tray 8 and disposed diagonally with respect tothe valve I4.

As shown in Figure 4 the ribs I9 and 28 progressively decrease in heightinwardly from one longitudinal side of the tray, the innermost rib beingspaced a considerable distance from the opposite longitudinal side ofthe tray; While rising from the top of each rib is a n 2I elongatedlongitudinally of the rib, with the Afins progressively decreasing inheight in inverse order with respect to the ribs I9 and 28 so that theupper edges of the ns are in the same horizontal plane.

A portion of the wall 'I between the nmost rib and adjacent longitudinalwall of the tray 8 is flat and has rising therefrom ns 22 disposed inspaced parallelism; one of the ns extending inwardly from one end wallof the tray and terminating short of the opposite end wall of the tray,and the other of the ns 22 extending inwardly from the last named endwall of the tray and terminating short of the rst named end wall of thetray so that the fins 22 coact with the ribs I9 and 20 in continuing thezigzag or sinuous path which the juice, during the process ofevaporation must travel in passing from the inlet I4 of the tray to theoutlet 23 for the tray.

Obviously.the provision of the corrugations I9 and 20 will give agreater heated surface with which the juice or sap Will have contact forevaporating purposes while the tortuous passage for the juice formed bythe corrugations I9, 20 and ns 22 will insure the juice being subjectedto the heat over a considerable period of time and thereby provide forcomplete evaporation or concentration of the juice or sap.

In actual practice the device is placed over a flame for heating thewater in the chamber or box and the steam generated is employed as aheating agent for effecting the evaporation and purifying of the juiceor sap.

It will, of course, be understood that the steam will find the pocketsformed by the upwardly extending corrugations and thus the sap in thepockets formed by the downwardly extending corrugations will bethoroughly heated as the sap is surrounded on three sides by the hotwalls of the pockets. By having the corrugations gradually decrease inheight the sap is heated to the maximum degree so that evaporationquickly takes place and then as the sap becomes thicker to form thesirup, this sirup is subjected to a less amount of heat as it is, ofcourse, located in the short corrugations. It is well known that thesirup requires less heat than the sap for if the Sirup is subject to toomuch heat it would boil over the device. The thicker sirup ows over theiiat part of the bottom wall where it is submitted to the minimum amountof heat.

It is thought that the simplicity of the device together with its manyadvantages will be had by those skilled in the art without furtherdetailed description.

While I have herein shown and described a preferred embodiment of theinvention it is to be understood that I claim all such forms of theinvention to which I am entitled in View of the prior art and scope ofthe appended claim.

Having thus described the invention, what is claimed as new is:

A sirup evaporator comprising a box and an evaporating tray provided on`top of said box, said tray embodying a wall common to the tray and saidbox and having a corrugated section and a relatively flat section; inletmeans for said tray at one corner thereof, and outlet means for saidtray at a corner diagonal to said inlet means; and the corrugatedsection of said wall embodying ribs extending inwardly from one end ofsaid tray and terminating short of the opposite end of said tray, andintermediate ribs extending inwardly from said opposite end of the trayand terminating short of the first named end of said tray; said ribsco-acting to provide a sinuous passage for the juice entering the trayat the inlet thereof and flowing over said wall to the outlet of saidtray, said ribs progressively decreasing in height as the ribs approachthe flat section of said wall, and ns rising from the crests of saidribs and the flat section of said wall with the upper edges of all ofsaid ns being in the same horizontal plane.

SIDNEY P. HAYES.

